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Proms 24 and 25 review: Philharmonia/Salonen and Monteverdi Choir/Gardiner at the Royal Albert Hall

French mezzo Marianne Crebassa was a revelation singing Ravel, and the Proms’ celebration of Martin Luther got off to a rousing start

Richard Morrison

August 4 2017, 12:01am, The Times

★★★★☆Settling down to be lulled into reverie by Ravel’s languid Shéhérazade, I was instead infused with a growing feeling that I was watching a new star. I’ve rarely heard a singer make a more poised, polished or delectable Proms debut than the young French mezzo Marianne Crebassa did in this sensuous song cycle.

She seems to have everything. She can muster the power to carry over this vast arena, but also has the sensibility to caress ambiguously erotic phrases. She has a glorious timbre and a clean, 21st-century technique, but also the confidence to apply a fin-de-siècle glide between the notes where appropriate.

It says much for the featherlight and diaphanous playing of the Philharmonia under Esa-Pekka Salonen that they weren’t upstaged. Indeed, they went…